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The good reason Emergency!’s co-creator refused to watch his own show
Cinader kept his friends close and his competition closer!
In television, knowing your competition can be just as important as knowing your own show. Few people understood that better than Robert A. Cinader, the television writer and producer behind such popular series as Adam-12 and Emergency!.
Working alongside producer Jack Webb, Cinader helped bring Adam-12 to television in 1968, following two Los Angeles police officers on patrol. A few years later, he and Webb developed Emergency!, which followed firefighters and paramedics as they responded to life-threatening calls.
The medical drama did more than entertain audiences; it also helped raise awareness of paramedic services across the country. But despite his involvement in these successful shows, Cinader had an unusual television-watching habit: He didn't tune in to see his own work.
In a 1973 interview with The Deseret News, Cinader revealed that he preferred to spend his television time keeping an eye on the competition.
"I don't watch my own shows on television," Cinader said. "I watch the opposition."
Rather than spending the evening watching Emergency! or Adam-12, Cinader studied what other networks had to offer. His reasoning? Understanding what audiences were watching could help him figure out how to keep them coming back to his own productions.
"This is the only way to know what to do with my productions," Cinader explained.
His research even led him to give a few competitors their due. He singled out Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law and The Mary Tyler Moore Show as programs he considered particularly good.
For Cinader, choosing the right time slot for a show wasn't simply a matter of guesswork. It was a calculated decision that required understanding both his own program and the shows vying for viewers' attention.
"It's about like coaching football," Cinader said. "You have to psych out the appeal of your show, plus that of the opposition."
In other words, Cinader wasn't skipping his own shows because he lacked confidence in them. He was doing his homework.
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